April car sales may fall short of expectations

By David Kiley
USA Today

Deeper discounts, a few hot new products and tax refunds helped automakers push April sales ahead of last year, but probably not as high as many auto executives had hoped.

Merrill Lynch estimates sales overall were up 4 percent from last April. But final results won't be known until today, when General Motors reports.

The world's largest automaker couldn't announce sales with the other automakers yesterday because of a computer glitch unrelated to the latest PC virus.

Although Ford Motor and Chrysler Group reported disappointing April numbers, Toyota, Nissan, BMW and several other import makers showed improvement.

"Despite rising fuel prices, economic indicators such as gross domestic product, employment and consumer spending were all up, giving a boost to April automotive sales," says Jim Press, chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales. Toyota sales were up 10 percent.

"It's not a disaster," says Chrysler sales chief Gary Dilts. "April is a funny month. You've got the Easter bunny and the tax man, and the two of them together sometimes make bad things happen in the car business."

Chrysler posted a 1 percent gain in sales.

Ford sales fell 4 percent from a year earlier, with car sales down 8 percent and truck sales off 2 percent. Except for Jaguar, sales were lower across the board for Ford's brands.

Other results:

• Nissan was up 14 percent, pumped by sales of the new Titan pickup and Quest minivan.
• Honda sales were down 1.3 percent.
• Hyundai sales were flat from a year ago, but sales by its South Korean sibling Kia were up 20 percent in April and 7 percent so far this year.